Just days before announcing his candidacy for president, Gov. Rick Perry
sent a letter to the Obama administration saying Washington owes Texas
more than $349 million for Texas' incarceration of illegal immigrants.

In
the letter, first reported today by The Associated Press, Perry said
that cost is directly associated with the federal government’s failure
to secure the border, an oft-repeated rebuke of the Obama administration
that Perry has been repeating on the campaign trail.

The letter
to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, dated
Aug. 10, says the federal government’s failure to secure the border
“continues to burden local communities and resources in Texas.”

“Therefore
on behalf of all the taxpaying citizens of Texas, I am respectfully
submitting a reimbursement request in the amount of $349,283,453 for
state and local costs of incarcerating illegal immigrants,” Perry wrote.
The letter includes a statement from Texas Comptroller Susan Combs, who says the request is “reasonable” despite being a “conservative estimate.”

Perry
said his office made the multimillion-dollar calculation using figures
from the Texas Association of Counties and the U.S. Department of
Justice. He acknowledged the government has partially reimbursed the
state for its participation in the DOJ’s State Criminal Alien Assistance
Program, but said it is not nearly enough. To drive home his point,
Perry included in his letter language from a similar plea Napolitano
sent to former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales in 2005, when she was
governor of Arizona.

“As
you stated in 2005 … while the federal programs such as the State
Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP) provide some of the
reimbursement to county jails, the ‘sum bears no relationship whatsoever
to the state’s actual average costs of incarcerating criminal aliens,’”
Perry wrote.

Perry, who has made his job creation record as
governor a staple of his fledgling campaign, has been somewhat quiet on
immigration and border security. As Perry continues to make headway
among the field of Republican candidates, however, immigration issues —
and whether Perry has been hard enough on them — could take center
stage.

Political analysts say that Perry must toe a careful line
on immigration, following a legislative session where he pushed hard for
state enforcement of immigration laws. The longest-serving governor of
Texas has alienated some potential supporters after his push to ban
so-called “sanctuary cities” in Texas. Comparisons have been made
between that legislation — which would have prevented local governments
and law enforcement entities from adopting policies preventing peace
officers from inquiring into the immigration status of persons arrested
or detained — and more extreme proposals initiated in Arizona and other
states. Perry, however, has continued to say the Texas law would have
only allowed officers to use their discretion, as opposed to being
required to ask about status. The measures failed to pass in Texas
during the regular and special sessions of the 82nd Legislature.

1 comment on this story

Perry doesn’t believe in a strong federal government, doesn’t believe in raising taxes ( at least not for the affluent, not for corporations), wants the federal gov’t to be hands off on “his” sovereign state of Tx, yet wants to penalize the federal gov’t for not taking actions strong enough in the state he “governs”, and demands a whopping hand out of $349 million from the federal gov’t…just where does he think this money comes from?

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